Bing doing well, but Microsoft still has a lot to learn.
Your favourite search engine is Google, right? Or is it…
A Microsoft employee (working in his own time) has developed a ‘blind taste’ challenge where you compare the results from three search engines: Google, Yahoo! and the recently launched Bing. You choose your favourite set of results to reveal which search engine they came from. The results can be surprising. In my tests I found that I preferred Bing’s results almost as often as Google’s, with Yahoo! coming in a poor third.
Microsoft’s strategy with Bing seems to be working. Three weeks on from its launch, they have maintained their market share of 12% in the US (it’s lower in the UK). Microsoft’s Steve Ballmer spoke this week of the company’s plans to invest a massive 5 - 10% of its operating income over the next five years, citing their investment and subsequent success of Xbox as the model.
But here’s my advice to Microsoft: sort out the basics. A search on Google for Microsoft’s adCenter (their competitor to Google’s AdWords) brings up the following result.
Have they learned nothing? They really need to improve:
- cross-browser compatibility (you can’t access adCenter using Safari);
- the user interface (adCenter is clunky, badly structured and has no offline tools like AdWords Editor); and
- the description that other search engines display in their snippet (tell me why I need to use adCenter).
What’s your take?
- Have you used Bing? Did you like the results?
- What about Microsoft adCenter? Have you found it worth the time and effort for the volume of business it generates?
Leave your thoughts in the comments.
I’ve been surprised by how good it is actually, much more apt than yahoo already in the quick and random tests I’ve done. Trust me, saying that doesnt come easily.
Interesting that they still cant get their head around keyword ads though, adwords is so good now and – especially with facebook now kicking into gear – they risk falling even further behind. The cross browser stuff is just predictably awful.
Did you ever use DART btw?
I don’t give praise to Microsoft easily either. And you’re right – the only two PPC platforms worth investing time and effort in right now are AdWords and Facebook. AdWords for the brilliance of its features (Quality Score, CPA bidding, etc) and Facebook for the laser sharp demographic targeting.
Not heard of DART – what’s that?